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Thursday, February 7, 2019

If your new around here, you probably don’t know this but I’m not the typical blogger. I randomly take breaks from blogging because, well life happens. Real life. Don’t get me wrong I love blogging. I love writing. I love forming the connections I have made through this digital life but I have priorities. Or at least I try to because let’s me honest we all get sucked into the scrolling mindlessly through social media while life happens around you. However, I’m breaking that cycle. I won’t allow it to hold power over me anymore of having to see every single post ever posted by this person or that person or needing to know who is doing what at this moment in time.

Now hear me out, there is absolutely nothing wrong with checking in on your favorite blogger or social media influencer but when that profile or person gets the best of you instead of the people in your real life, in your home. There’s a problem. And that’s me. Hi, my name is Stormie and I am a social mediaholic. I love catching up with people on Instagram but I hate having phone conversations. I love posting and watching instastories but I’m actually an introvert and don’t like talking in person unless we are already close friends.

So this social media break has happened for quite a few reasons. The main reason was the Lord was speaking to me. I have always wondered when people would say “The Lord spoke to me” or I’m following the Lord’s command and I always wondered like how? Did you hear a big booming voice “Stormie get off social media” with an echo? Well no. It was subtle and over time. The Lord spoke to me through books I was reading, through people I was following on social media, conversations I was having in my bible study group, etc. There was a common theme being brought to my attention across all areas of my life and it felt so strong that I knew it was coming from the Lord.

Short back story, my husband was laid off (I spoke about it some here and here) and we were dealing with unemployment for 6+ months and now underemployment. Around the same time I’m hearing the Lord speak to me, Anthony and I both also feel the Lord telling us it was finally time to say goodbye to our house. In hindsight, we were wrestling with the Lord for months and months before this without realizing it (or wanting to realize) so when we did make the decision to list our house for sell, we were at such peace because we knew it was the Lord’s will.

So the time-frame for us to be out of the house lined up with the holidays which I thought taking the whole month of December off would be the best because one it would give us time to get all moved in and settled and secondly what perfect time to create a new rhythm and routine with my children. I was also planning to use this time to intentionally plan what my life would look like on social media and how I needed to create boundaries and balance my priorities on my spiritual life and my family life first.

But alas, the Lord had other plans and other familial obligations popped up that took majority of my attention in December and half of January. Now that things have slowed down on that front, I have been trying to find my way back to my initial mission. Getting the fire back in me of being intentional with my spiritual life and my kids. Creating a new rhythm and routine with a purpose. And eventually get back to blogging with a game plan.

As of right now, I have been checking in on Facebook and Instagram every so often but not being active much other then selling stuff on marketplace. I have felt I wanted to wait until I was in a good place in my spiritual life and my family life. It’s not to say my faith has been wavering, in fact it’s quiet the opposite.

During this last year and a half, this is the most dependent and closest I have felt to the Lord. I feel like when everything was going great, it was so easy to put God on the back burner and say a prayer here and there. Head to church on Sunday’s, attend bible study and go through the motions all while neglecting to ever open up my Bible. My God has shown me so much and has taught me so much in trusting in Him, leaning not on my own understanding when things aren’t going the way I planned. I try so hard to control so much out of fear and I have learned that’s not okay.

I’m not saying you should never make plans or goals, it’s great to plan but it’s also very important to remain flexible because we don’t have the whole picture. God does. And guess what. His plans are so far better for our lives then we could have ever imagined. The good and the bad.

Side story about the “bad”: I do not know the reason I had to grow up without my biological parents (in case your unaware, my parents died when I was really young and my aunt who I call mom raised me) but what I do know is I would not be the mother I am today to my children if it wasn’t for that significant lost in my life as a child. For that I am thankful that I am more in tune to the needs of my children. I am far from the perfect mother but I am proud of the mother I am. No one could ever take that confidence away from me. That confidence comes from the “bad hand” I was dealt and honestly, looking my children in their faces the way I do, there is not one thing I would change in my life that lead me to this point and that is thanks to God.

“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” -Romans 8:28 ESV

What is something you have felt the Lord speak to you lately? Do you try to plan or control your life out of fear? How has your childhood shaped you into the parent you are (or plan to be)?

Monday, September 3, 2018

This post was created in partnership with DockATot but all thoughts and opinions are of my own.

If you don’t know my love for DockATot yet, where have you been? Haha, since we discovered it and started using the DockATot Grand with Sophia at 9 months we saw a night and day difference in her sleeping habits (read more here). We were determined to start our next baby with the DockATot right after birth and were so impressed with the multiple uses we were able to use our DockATot Deluxe for besides co-sleeping (read more here).

Obviously we are now DockATot pros and we are constantly getting questions from those considering if they should invest in one (yes you should and you’ll thank me later).

The question I wanted to dedicate a blog post to is:

Can I just buy the Grand from the start?

I mean you can do whatever you want to do at the end of the day BUT I would not recommend it. When babies come out into the world, they came from this snugly secure environment (your womb) to this big opened world. The sensory overload is typically why it’s a hard adjustment for the baby the first few days or weeks. The DockATot Deluxe is created smaller to recreate a womb like environment by being cozy and snugly.

Side note: the things we had to do to get Sophia to sleep those first few months was insane. No one was getting any sleep. Using the DockATot Deluxe with Baby Anthony as soon as we got home from the hospital was amazing. We actually slept. All of us. Yes there were middle of the night feedings because that comes with the territory of having a newborn but we didn’t have to do anything extravagant to get him to sleep at night. He just did and that is because of the DockATot Deluxe.

The design of the DockATot Deluxe is for babies from 0-8 months old. Before you ask, yes that includes big babies as well. Baby Anthony was born at 10 pounds 8 ounces and has consistently been at the top of the charts measuring ahead and the DockATot Deluxe still worked perfectly for him. At 9.5 months, we finally decided to upgrade to the DockATot Grand. We have had our DockATot Grand for about two weeks now and the transition from the DockATot Deluxe to the DockATot Grand has been a very smooth transition, in fact I think baby Anthony has enjoyed the extra room to wiggle. We always start any sleep transitions with nap times first for a month before implementing those changes to bedtime as well. This has been a fool-proof method for our family and has made all transitions easier (this is also how we transitioned Sophia off the bottle).

Therefore, I highly recommend starting with the DockATot Deluxe from the beginning as it was created to mimic the womb’s coziness. Your little one will feel snug and secure and sleep better and in turn you will sleep better.

Do you already use the DockATot? Have you been considering the DockATot for your family?

If you found this post helpful or know someone who would, please share it! I have made this pinnable image below to make it easier to pin and share!!

It has certainly been awhile since I shared my last home decor blog post and the only reveal I have ever done in this house was Sophia's Nursery. We have lived here for 4 years already and if you have been around the blog for awhile you will remember how unexpected and last minute buying this house was and while I would have loved to already have the house exactly the way I envisioned all those years ago, more unexpected and wonderful and hard things happened.

Most aspects of our lives are looking better and relief has been lifted for the most part. We (by we, I mean me haha) have even started dreaming about finally making this house into a home now that Anthony is working again and some major repairs have been done on our house - there are still a few more major (and minor) repairs we need but we are praying about our options before forking out a good chunk of change for the remaining major repairs. With that, we are not sure how long we will stay in this home but decided no matter the length of time, we want to enjoy our surroundings so the first project up is our hall bathroom.

If you caught my stories on Instagram then you know we have been dealing with mold issues in our master bathroom because of improper caulking by previous owners and mold issues in the hall bathroom because of leaking faucets (told you there are a lot of repairs that need to happen in this house). Due to the lengthy process of removing caulk, we wouldn't be able to use the master shower therefore we need to fix the leaking issue in the hall bathroom so we can use the hall shower/tub while we work on cleaning out the master shower. We have accumulated some gift cards to various stores that will actually help us be able to not only replace the necessities but also make the hall bathroom pretty instead of boring builder grade which has lead me to create a mood board.

As ya'll may remember, I have struggled finding inspiration or a direction for this bathroom forever but inspiration finally hit after Cassie from Hi Sugarplum revealed their Powder Bathroom last summer:

Isn't it breathtaking? Now you are probably wondering where the heck I got farmhouse from as Cassie's bathroom is just full on glam. I have mix taste but most of my taste is farmhouse, cottage, vintage, antiques, etc however I also love pops of color (most farmhouse decor is neutral) and some modern elements which is how I tied in my personal taste of all things farmhouse with modernish touches.

Here is our to-do list to make this restroom fully functional and pretty:

(I am not using any special color just a regular ol white that I happen to have in my garage)

Paint cabinet - white or black?

Paint door to match trim

Scrub floors

Paint floors or install tile?

Replace light fixture?

Add decor elements

Figuring out the floor situation and light fixture will ultimately depend on how long we decide to stay in this home. I would love to paint the cabinet black but this bathroom doesn’t get any natural light and the current lighting sucks plus my shower curtain of choice is dark so I think painting the cabinet white would help brighten it up so right now I am leaning more towards white, what do y’all think?

And because I love seeing a good before and after, I took a few “before” photos to share before we get started (although these were taken after I did a much needed deep clean, haha).

As you can see there are some decor elements I already have on hand that I shared in my mood board. I do want to make note that the pitcher that I have is not the one I linked, I found mine at goodwill years ago so if you are on a budget I would suggest shopping around thrift stores and goodwill before buying new but if not, the one I linked is fairly similar to the one I have. I couldn't find a similar copper tub that was the same or similar sizing as mine which is why I didn't link anything (the one in the mood board is actually ginormous) and if I remember correctly, I bought mine at Target years ago so maybe try there first.

So now that you see were we are starting and were we would like to go with our hall bathroom, white or black cabinets?